Exterminator Lonnie “Roach” Raines and ice skater Alexi Summerville have been friends and roommates for years, but they’ve never taken their relationship to the next level.

When Alexi’s coach wants him to train for the World Championship in another state, however, Roach is forced to examine his feelings before he loses Alexi, possibly for good.

His Series

THE REVIEW

Can’t Be His is the next installment in the His series by Shawn Lane. I really enjoyed the two previous novels and was eagerly looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, Can’t Be His just doesn’t have enough plot or characterization depth for me to give it a higher rating.

The premise of Can’t Be His is that opposites attract. Lonnie “Roach” Raines and Alexi Summerville seem like polar opposites. Roach is an exterminator, hence the nickname, and Alexi is a world-class ice skater looking to capture a World Championship. They are roommates and friends, but each is secretly in love with the other. With his coach wanting Alexi to move out of California to train elsewhere, Roach decides it is now or never to let Alexi know of his feelings. Will or won’t they be reciprocated?

That is the climax of the story and plot is wrapped up in 26 easy pages. While I know it is hard to delve deeply into a more intricate plot and complex characterizations in a short story, Can’t Be His just didn’t grab me the way the other books in this series did. I wanted to like Roach and Alexi, as their back-story seemed very interesting, however, it needed more…more pages, more plot…just more.

So, I can only recommend to fans of Shawn Lane or the His series and that is with reservations as discussed.

Author

I’ve been reading romance books since I was 12 and when I found m/m books a few years ago I fell madly in love with the genre. My favorites tropes are: GFY, police partners in love and May-December romances. I also adore paranormals and in my spare time away from Jessewave, I review pararmormal m/m books at my own blog. Give me a good shifter book and I’m a happy girl!

4 comments

Lasha
I read the other two stories but will probably pass on this one because 26 pages doesn’t seem to be enough to fully explore a relationship, even in the hands of an experienced writer like Shawn. However, I have to give her high marks for her “opposites attract” pairing – an exterminator and a dancer?????